Former Supreme Court Justices Joseph Grodin and Kathryn Werdegar are among over two dozen signatories to a letter asking the State Bar to “investigate serious evidence of professional misconduct by Professor John C. Eastman in connection with his representation of former President Donald J. Trump in efforts to discredit and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.”
The letter, which endorses a 26-page detailed exposition of Eastman’s alleged ethical lapses, says that lawyers “have a solemn duty . . . to ensure that they do not allow themselves to become the tools by which [public] officials seek to undermine democratic governance.”
Other signers from around the nation include former governors, former federal district court judges, former state attorneys general, law professors, and a former California State Bar president.
Press coverage includes articles by Tom Hamburger and Jacqueline Alemany in the Washington Post, David Savage in the Los Angeles Times, and Cheryl Miller in The Recorder.
The Recorder piece reports that George Cardona, the Bar’s new Chief Trial Counsel would not comment on whether the Bar is investigating Eastman, but continued in a statement, “That said, every lawyer admitted to practice in California takes an oath outlined by statute: to support the Constitution of the United States and the California Constitution, and to faithfully discharge their duties to the best of their knowledge and ability.”
[October 20 Update: Horvitz & Levy partner Jeremy Rosen has this in The Atlantic: “John Eastman Is Not a Victim of Cancel Culture.” Rosen, who was nominated for a federal judgeship by President Trump and is a long-time Federalist Society leader, writes, “Those who are enabling Trump’s ongoing effort to challenge the legitimacy of the election—John Eastman chief among them—should be rejected by all conservatives who love their country. He and others like him pose a clear and present danger to the health of our republic.”]
[March 1, 2022 update: Cheryl Miller in The Recorder: “John Eastman Facing Bar Investigation Over 2020 Election Conduct.”]
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